How to provide a detailed and fast report.

[David Macy]

I have done at least 100 reports with HIP now and I must say I am as slow as a turtle.

So I ask others. How long does it take you to finish a report and what are your secrets to your success.

I would say on average I take 2 hours for an average quality home with 75 pictures.

Now the first item would be the type of computer I was using. Old & slow.

So I purchased a new laptop and I am saving 15 minutes (Maybe more per inspection)

Secondly I was adding drop down text to every photo. Now I just select and place in report. So I am saving 15 minutes. 

So now my 2 hour report is 1.5 hours but I want to get it done in an hour or less.

So please friends help out this old turtle. I want to win this race.

[Dominic Maricic]

Glad to see you shaved 30 minutes off so easily.

Well, like you found out, using your ancient computer was definitely slowing you down. Especially when you said it was taking 30 minutes to upload and everyone else says around 2 minutes!

Like you said, you don't have to add a caption to every photo. Remember the comments are directly above them. Usually it's pretty obvious.

Attach a sample report so we can look over it.

Also, I have to ask as I've heard this one before. You're taking 1.5 hours now. Is the TV on while you're doing the report?

[David Macy]

No distractions.

I will have to make a new sample. The one I use now is much differant than the one on my site.

Having a properly set up template is the key. Mine is still not user friendly.

I was thinking of making a quick template for the field and an expanded template for the office.

Quick template would be direct to the point verbage like:

Garage

GDO Safety features

Safety issue: Reverse by force not operating properly.


Expaneded template would go into more detail.

4. Gargage Door Opener Safety Features
Observations: The automatic opener safety reverse feature was not operating properly at the time of inspection. The door can cause injury to a small child or animal. Have the safety reverse
adjusted or replaced for proper operation.

[Dominic Maricic]

I think making two templates would waste time. Take your printed, laminated report with you if you're not using the Q1 (I'm sure it's hard in the cold) and just fill it out and enter the data when you get back. I don't want to see a fake Sample Report, erase your clients data and post a real report so we can really study it.

[Bob Elliott]

Dave if you are including 75 photos I honestly do not think 90 minutes per report is that horrible.
Lets say you are very detail orientated.

If you spend an average of one minute per photo that is everything but 15 minutes of the report. (correct)?

Now lets say you use 30 photos per report instead!

Hmmm I just cut 45 minutes off your report time.

Turn on the computer ,Being realistic you need to hook up the camera ,you see the folder and need to rename it , move it to a file,you most likely spend time making sure it went to your picture file,you click on the program,you check client data,you gotta decide what documents to include,there may be one or two issues you look up on the internet,you massage your comments or even use a narrative style.You have by now uploaded the pictures to HIP and went through every one deciding which section they will appear in.You may be using edit to create arrows ,text,circles,etc.

Remember every step you take to customize makes it take longer, so longer is a trade off between what kind of product you are producing and time.
90min is not so bad for 75 pics bro.

Get rid of the pictures and you could do a report in under 20 minutes no doubt.
Try it.
You just may not like the result as much if like me ,you are very visual in your end product.

Nobody can rush a genius. lol

[Dominic Maricic]

That's a good point Bob. Nothing in the program can speed up editing photos with arrows and stuff. You can get faster at it but you'll still spend the most time with photos.

When you talk to the guys who print on site or under 30 min at home, they import photos but put very few annotations on them. You narratives will often do that. For example, you have a narrative saying the wall had a 2 foot hole in it, does the picture need to have a comment or arrow pointing to the hole? It's not like the photos are at the end of the report, they are RIGHT under the comments.

[Bob Elliott]

Yes another good point Dom
I have individual tabs for each appliance and yet often find myself being redundant by feeling the need to label microwave as microwave.OK usually micro hood.

Do not put 100 comments in your defect section that need hunting either.
Lets face it.

Vented or not vented , charcoal filter or no charcoal filter is all you really need in que.

I have no doubt what so ever there are times I might stare at the picture for more than several seconds before deciding to label it as such.
(hmmmm maybe I should call it a dishwasher.)

The big point is to take a look and see the complete report as a whole ,rather than getting into minute details.

Go back after completion and fill in whats missing from a bigger perspective.

[David Macy]

Thats one of my biggest problems in the field if I am using the Q1 with the small screen. Trying to find my verbage amoung 25/50+ comments is time consuming.

I think I will seperate my comments in one template.  One section would be labeled field and the other office. This way I am just looking at less comments.

Thanks for the inputs. Good ideas.

[Dominic Maricic]

Change the resolution on the Q1 to 640x480 if you want things a bit bigger.

[Bob Elliott]

If you are using a tablet I suggest you get a program called Active Words.
You can then just write a couple letters to pull up many of your comments,thus eliminating hunt and click or tap.

[John Adrian Sopher]

My reports takes me about 3 hours or so.  I find that the little touch pad on my lap top is what slows me down the most.  If I had a touch screen computer, I think it would cut time in half!

[Dominic Maricic]

Go buy a USB mouse for $15. I bet it shaves 30+ minutes off your report!

What else is taking you so long? Are you doing other things at the same time?

[John Adrian Sopher]

I have one of those.  I just cant use it right now as I have my house up for sale and had to clear it all out for staging.

But also, its because I do stuff for every room.  I always, do my report, then add the photos (tons of them, but don't use them all).  The I match up the pics to where they need to go.  Then I go through the final report until I don't find any mistakes.

Most of the time I am doing other things, so my report time may jump to 5 pr 6 hours.  I find that the report takes me about as much time as it take to do the inspection.  I have been thinking of creating a report with most of the fields pre-filled in to cut the time down.  I'm hoping that a touch screen will really speed things up.

[Dominic Maricic]

Definitely too long. I'll look over your sample reports when I get a chance. Are those up to date with what your template looks like right now? There's definitely quite a bit you can do to get your time way down.

[John Adrian Sopher]

No, those are older.

Here is the latest one I did. 

[William R. DeVries]

something to remember, keep your quick picks simple, if you need added info that is where your drop down on the photo comes in , ADDING extra info because you want to be more descriptive for this picture.
Also your there to point out the defects, Observe and report, Its not our place to say the bath looks good and the shower and spa tub flow in a nice co-effecient way.
if it is fine, quick pick, spa worked at time of inspection.
labouring on all little things will bog you and your report down.
Last week I handed in a report, 4 photos 3 outlets non grounded and a settlement crack along the garage.
My standard added info like SOP, Agreement, and client info took the majority of the report.
I tell clients your paying me to tell you whats wrong with the house, you decide whats right with the house.

[Dominic Maricic]

No, those are older.

Here is the latest one I did. 

John, overall the report looks good. I'd combine the first 4 sections into just 1. Call in General Information or something. That will save you time jumping around in between sections. Also, you misspelled ceiling in your last photo caption (just an FYI to update your template).

Any reason you used restroom instead of bathroom? Seems like restroom is more of a commercial term than what's used for a home.

[Richard Overton]

I use the ctl2 go computer, and do my inspections on a room X room with an identification photo for each room.I can do a 4 bed, 3+bath house including printing the report on site in 4 hrs +-. I have a reputation for being careful and thorough.

Take the computer room by room, sit on the floor and fill in your template carefully so you dont have to "dink with it later" Take all the photos in the room at the same time starting with an overview shot of the space.

At the end of the inspection process, batch load the photos and go strait to editing them, I agree that adding comments is not necessary because of the nice placement the report does, but I do add my bright yellow arrows as on the ctl2go it only takes  5 seconds to do.

Her is where you save the time. Generate the report and then skim it looking for missing comments or unchecked rating boxes. When you find one (and you will) swap active windows to hip and make the correction, swap back to the pdf and continue on correcting as you go until the end of report.

Save inspection, save template, generate report. While report is generating, color laser printer is warming up. While report is printing, car is loading up. Pull report off printer and put in bitchen 3 hole presentation folder and hand to client  with a pencil. Walk through with the client, grab printer, leave, turn around at the end of the block and get the check you forgot.

Hope that helps, Rich

[John Adrian Sopher]

Richard I do my inspection almost the same way.  I do a room by room report with pictures only I dont print on-site.  I email after the inspection.  I would say it takes me at the longest the same amount of time as you stated.  Normally an inspection takes me about 3 hours start to finish then another 30-60 min to do the pictures, proof read the report and send it off.  And that's with me taking my time, giving two tours with the client (inside and out), a little chit chatting, and really taking my time for the pics.

[Richard Overton]

Nice John, I like to go over the report with the client while on site if possible. Looks like we have both come across a similar way of getting things done quickly and efficiently.

I print on site mainly because I do not want to get off task and then return to it later-I have been known to procrastinate. Even the reports I know I will be emailing I finish on site. Just works better for me.